Having a good three months would lift anyone's spirits.
... It was a robust quarter all around for Disney, with operating income in every major division climbing by double-digit percentages. After parks, the strongest performer was Disney’s television business — ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC — with a 20 percent increase in operating income, to $1.46 billion. ...
Disney’s movie studio fell short of its performance in the previous year and losses at the company’s video game and Internet division mounted. ... [There were] strong ticket sales for “The Help” and “The Lion King 3-D.” But “Cars 2” did not meet expectations and most of the studio’s quarterly operating profit came from merchandising sales.
So a hand-drawn feature surprised with its robust re-issue cash flow, and a new c.g. release underperformed. A shame.
But it's always good to remember that the House of Mouse is a large and diverse mansion with many rooms and a lot of interlocking parts. Cars 2 might be a relative weakling at the box office, but it generated (and generates) a lot of merchandise sales for another division. And let's not forget how newer intellectual property (the animated features) feeds new rides and shows for the very profitable amusement parks.
Add On: Disney plans to dribble around the unfortunate labor troubles in one of our big time sports:
With the National Basketball Assn. lockout dragging on for 134 days, Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo sought to allay concerns about how the labor dispute might effect the company's lucrative ESPN cable sports network. ...
As for myself, I would like the lockout to end soon. But Big Business is not overly fond of labor unions, so who knows?
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6 comments:
Cars 2 DROVE Disney Merchandising last year, according to Iger's call and the report! The film did well, but it cost to much due to the first director, brad lewis' bungling.
More bad news for the film division may be coming: the Muppets is tracking very badly, according to It's on the Grid.com. This despite the fact that the annoying critters are everywhere - the net, radio, TV etc. Maybe Disney needs to look very hard at creating new 2D films and back off of lame puppet movies and unwanted sequels.
Wait until Disney has to write down the nearly $500 million on John Carter. Stockholders will not be happy.
Doom and gloom!!!!!!! What ever shall we dooooooooooo?????
Get out of the stock now!
Noooowww!!
Anon #2, just for grins, I checked your source on the Muppets. You're either wrong or lying. Here's a quote from It's On The Grid.com:
"The big Thanksgiving releases include ARTHUR CHRISTMAS, HUGO, and THE MUPPETS. Given the seemingly ever-present marketing for THE MUPPETS (seriously, can you remember a time when people weren’t talking about the Jason Segel adaptation), it’s no surprise that it’s tracking the best so far."
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